Episode 68: Rolf Agather on investment index methodology and innovation, host Rick Ferri

More than 50 percent of mutual fund and ETF assets track passive indices, which makes index methodology important. Episode 68 is all about index history and evolution and how the usage of indexes as investment products changed the industry. 

Rolf Agather has been in the indexing industry since the 1980s. He started Russell, moved around the industry a bit, then went back to Russell Investments and in 2002 became the Managing Director, Research and Innovation, Russell Indexes. He remained there after a merger with FTSE and became the FTSE Russell Managing Director, Research, North America. Rolf moved to Morningstar in 2020 as Morningstar’s Head of Research and Product, Indexes.

The Bogleheads on Investing podcast is hosted by Rick Ferri, CFA, a long-time Boglehead and investment adviser. The Bogleheads are a group of like-minded individual investors who follow the general investment and business beliefs of John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group. It is a conflict-free community where individual investors reach out and provide education, assistance, and relevant information to other investors of all experience levels at no cost. The organization supports a free forum at Bogleheads.org, and the wiki site is Bogleheads® wiki. 

Since 2000, the Bogleheads' have held national conferences in major cities nationwide. There are also many Local Chapters in the US and even a few Foreign Chapters that meet regularly. New Chapters are being added regularly. All Bogleheads activities are coordinated by volunteers who contribute their time and talent.  

This podcast is supported by the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy, a non-profit organization approved by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity on February 6, 2012. Your tax-deductible donation to the Bogle Center is appreciated.